Between the recent losses of Counterpoint and TomorrowWorld, Atlanta has a history of music festivals coming and going. But after two very successful years, it looks like Shaky Beats is here to stay. The festival was started started in 2013 as an indie festival under the banner of Shaky Knees, before they expanded the brand to include the electronic-centric Shaky Beats in 2016. With headliners like Odesza, Major Lazer, and Big Gigantic, it’s easy to see why the festival was a hit. For their second year, Shaky Beats stepped their game up even further, while still remaining true to what makes this festival unique.
With such an impressive lineup across only three stages featuring the likes of Griz, Kaskade, Flosstradamus, Galantis, The Chainsmokers, RL Grime, Zeds Dead and many more, set time overlaps were a big concern going into the festival; but Shaky Beats successfully countered that problem by implementing 45 minute set times for most of the daytime sets, making it much easier for attendees to pack their schedules with every artist they wanted to see. The venue and location are crucial to what makes this festival unique. Situated in the heart of downtown Atlanta at picturesque Centennial Park, the festival hosted the perfect combination of a beautiful venue, small size and ease of access. With a dozen or so hotels just a couple blocks away, there was no need for the pricey surcharged ubers or hour long treks back to civilization that some other festivals have come to be known for. The festival was surrounded by the Atlanta skyline, highlighted by the SkyView Atlanta Ferris Wheel.
Even though Friday was unseasonably cold and damp, the weather didn’t put much of a damper on festival goers’ spirits. With Alison Wonderland, RL Grime, and Griz throwing down fire sets, the crowd was able to keep warm. The weather on the remaining two days was absolutely perfect, and so were the artists. One of the unexpected highlights of the festival was the smallest stage, the Ponce de Leon. You often come to expect low production value and small local artists from the smallest stage at a festival, but this was definitely not the case at Shaky Beats. Set in the recessed Centennial Olympic Park concert stage, it featured stellar sets from artists like Grandtheft, REZZ, Mija and CID.
Shaky Beats Festival was a huge success, and truly made the most of the small Centennial Park venue. If you didn’t get a chance to go this year, we highly recommend checking it out next year. If 2017 was any indicator, Shaky Beats will only get better from here.
